This blog is about giving voice to the voiceless in occupied Palestine by myself and other contributing journalists who have seen first-hand the horror of Israeli apartheid.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

An open letter to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz

Dear Minister Mofaz,

This morning I read with alarming concern about the death of yet another Palestinian innocent bystander killed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). I know that the term “Israeli Occupation Force” does not put you at ease Sir, and I understand that you would rather use the term Israeli Defense Force but let us be realistic; After almost 40 years of occupying Palestinian land and moving Israeli citizens into said occupied land, which is a clear violation of The Fourth Geneva Convention which your country is a signatory, then the term occupation force applies.

Minister Mofaz, are you aware that this woman, 45, was shot in the head by your forces in her own home?

In addition, the woman’s two daughters, aged 22 and 20, were present when your troops opened fire as they surrounded a house in pursuit of a “wanted” resistance fighter.

More troubling to me is the fact that the Yusuf’s husband, Ahmad Zalat, reported to an AlJazeera reporter: “We were sitting on the floor in our sitting room. Suddenly we heard heavy gunshots, we were terrified and moved to take shelter.

“Amid the chaos, my daughter was hit by a bullet in the leg and my wife was shot dead in the head.”

Adding to the Zalat’s anguish, the troops that were in the town would not allow an ambulance to reach the woman. Sir, I know that in times of conflict you have to take great care of your soldiers, but international law demands that you also protect civilians regardless of what side they are on.

From what I understand the Zalat stated that; “They ordered the driver to stop 200m away from our building, and did not allow medics to carry my wife and daughters on the stretchers.”

Eventually Zalat had to carry his family, with the help of neighbors to the ambulance but by then it was too late and they could not save his wife’s life. In addition, his daughter sustained a severe leg injury.

If this had been an isolated incident, Sir I could see not making such a big issue of it. But it concerns me for several reasons.

As you may or may not know, I lived in Palestine for three years in the Old City of Hebron. Raids, firefights in populated civilian areas, and destruction of property were quite common throughout my time there.

In fact, I recall a time in the summer of 2004 when the IOF blew up a suspected house of a resistance fighter destroying not only his family’s home, but also several homes in the surrounding area. By they way, they never did find the man and it turned out the house they blew up was indeed his family’s but he had not lived there in over ten years!

To my knowledge his mother, father and siblings are still homeless to this day.

As for your troop’s defense involving the fatal shooting of Itaf Yusuf, an IOF spokesman told AFP; “shooting broke out when a top official of Islamic Jihad in Tulkarim resisted arrest.

The soldiers opened fire after having noticed suspicious movements around the house. Before that they had been calling on the Palestinian militant to hand himself over for one and a half hours and fired warning shots in the air.”

B’Tselem an Israeli human rights organization has consistently condemned both the actions of the IOF and Palestinian resistance fighters on civilian targets. However, the overwhelming majority of innocent casualties have come as a result of IOF aggression.

Sir, it seems that the IOF has stepped up its use of deadly force on innocent civilians. I am appealing to you to live up to the international standard of decency for those in your care.

No amount of “defense can justify the killing of an innocent mother of five. I hope you will truly look into this matter, rather than wipe it away like the many injuries and deaths before it.

1 comment:

Are you stating that a member of the IDF (Yes, it is officially called the IDF, regardless of your feelings. I don't call you 'dog' regardless of my feelings) actually knowlingly aimed a gun to the head of a 45 year old woman and shot her in cold blood? No? I didn't think so.

Then are you saying that the 4th geneva convention actually applies to this situation? I recall you stated that you were ignorant of military matters. I guess you proved that as the 4th does not apply.

There is no occupied Palestinain land as there is no Palestinian land.

You seem to be extremely troubled, to use your own words, over the casualties suffered by Palestinains due to the fact that palestinian terrorists freely operate among them. Perhaps you should direct your concern to them, since their removal to non-civillian areas will significantly reduce the number of civillian casualties.

That is your point, isn't it?

Remember, if the 4th applied, the IDF would be perfectly justified in their actions.